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AIDS in Africa

18 December 1993

The number of people worldwide who have been infected with HIV has now
topped 15 million, says the WHO. Ten million of those cases have been in
Africa, where last year 1.5 million more people were infected with the virus
and half a million people developed AIDS. The virus continues to spread
from hardest-hit central and east Africa into the south and west.

‘The news on the epidemic is not good,’ said Michael Merson, head of
the WHO’s Global Programme on AIDS, speaking at the 8th International Conference
on AIDS in Africa. Population migrations, partly due to political unrest,
are making the problem worse, Merson said.

Merson praised efforts in many African countries to stem the tide of
infection with publicity campaigns and measures to encourage people to use
condoms. But more must be done, he said.

‘Africa has developed magnificent models of prevention and care but
these are not being replicated widely enough, well enough or fast enough,’
he said, adding that too many African countries are still lagging behind
in the fight against the disease.